


Four Movements

by little_shinra



Category: Lamento -BEYOND THE VOID-
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Multi, Platonic Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:38:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9048373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_shinra/pseuds/little_shinra
Summary: the movements from one life to the next, over the span of a single lifetime





	

**(A researcher)**

Books and paper stacks were clumped on top of one another throughout the room. It looked precarious and messy, threatening to collapse, but it was a system for the researcher. A kettle in its tea cozy sat on the side table next to Leaks’ favorite reclining couch where he’d rested during long nights. Bojyo, sitting on the couch, noted the addition of a wreath on the wall, brightly colored and dissonant with the usual atmosphere of the study.

“That man has certainly left a print on you,” Bojyo mused to himself as he took a sip of his tea. Leaks barely turned his head from his tented fingers.

“Really?” He mumbled through.

“I’m happy for you.”

“You are mistaken. Nothing has changed.”

“I didn’t say more than I said,” Bojyo stared at the man’s back. “He’s already in. It’s alright to have it that way. There will always be more things in life than this room. Even if they’re people.”

“…There is nothing more to me than my research.”

“Shui doesn’t see it that way.”

Bojyo eyed the wreath again, and the minute signs of Shui’s visits.

A scarf he left. The overall cleaner look of the study room. The way Leaks expressed, even if he repressed it, the mild disappointment that it was Bojyo visiting and not the redhead.

Bojyo turned the cup in his hands. “There is a chance for you. Feelings don’t need to be limited to one person.”

Leaks didn’t reply and touched the invitation on his desk.

 

**(A survivor)**

Shui’s hand around his was amongst the first things he woke up to. His right side was uncomfortable, bound, and itchy. Shifting his arm in hopes the hospital sheets and bandages would ease the itch brought forth the opposite. Shui got up from the chair and rested a hand on his forehead. More sensations came into being. The rhythmic beeping for his heart from the monitor, the swelling keeping his eyes from fully opening, Shui tightening the grip on his wrist.

“Welcome back, Leaks.”

Leaks could hear relief in his friend’s voice. He tried to speak through the oxygen mask and found his throat had been stripped dry from the fire. Shui gave him water and eased him back to rest.

“It’s okay. I’m here. We’re all here. Just rest for now, Leaks. Everything else will be taken care of when you’re better.”

Leaks wanted to say so much. That he thought he heard Shui in his burning house. He couldn’t see well enough to tell in detail if Shui too had been burned. He knew Shui would be foolish enough to do such a thing.

Leaks gestured for something to write with. The right side of him was useless with all the dressings binding it and writing with his non-dominate hand proved more draining than he expected.

_You went inside the fire?_

He managed to scribble.

“No,” Shui sounded worried. “The firefighters stopped me.”

Leaks felt relief wash over him, sleep starting to come back. He gripped Shui’s sleeve and closed his eyes.

 

**(One of the family)**

Leaks watched from the doorway, taking in the scene. At the end of his wife’s hospital bed, Shui leaned over a clear paneled crib, allowing a tiny hand to wrap around his finger.

“Ah, Leaks,” His wife greeted, pulling him away from his hiding spot. The exhaustion of birthing was evident in her voice despite her work to keep herself alert. She waved him over and rested her hand over his shoulder when he stood beside her. “Do you want to hold him?”

Leaks just looked at her. She elaborated. “I want you to.”

Shui scooped the baby up and brought him over to the head of the bed. Leaks pulled back, startled that this was being given to him. With hesitation, he held the bundle in his arms, positioned cautiously as directed, and looked into the space where tiny ears peeked out. Leaks pulled the blanket back, revealing a small face. The baby yawned, rubbing his eyes at the light of the room. His round brown eyes stared up at him.

“Name?” Leaks asked.

“Konoe.”

Tiny feet gave soft kicks inside the blanket and Konoe made pitched sounds, stretching his hand out for him. He caught a handful of Leaks’ growing braid and yanked. Both Shui and his wife smothered giggles while Shui detangled his son’s fingers.

“No, Konoe. You don’t pull,” Shui softly scolded. Shui’s hand lingered on the braid.

“…Shui,” His wife nudged.

“Hn? Oh, sorry,” he let go, bowing his head apologetically. Leaks kept his gaze down on Konoe, to hide the rush of blood through his face and the burn in his ears.

 

**(A parental)**

Konoe’s distressed crying filled the bedroom through the baby monitor. The baby’s mother nudged her husband.

“Shui, it’s your turn.”

Shui sat right up, vision blurry, and got to his feet. He, akin to a zombie, made halfway across the room when another voice came on the baby monitor.

“Shhhh, why are you crying?” Leaks shushed. Both parents looked at the monitor, taken aback by who they heard. Leaks spoke again. “Did you have a nightmare too?”

In Konoe’s room, he reached into the crib, scooping Konoe up with his blanket. He took a seat on the wooden chair sitting against the window.

“What is it?”

Konoe mumbled and wept sounds that couldn’t form words and reached a small hand out for something on Leaks’ person. Leaks unwound the short braid and presented it to him.

“Is this what you want?”

Konoe took hold of the end and pulled it closer, fingering the woven hair. His crying lowered to soft hiccups and he pushed closer to Leaks. Leaks patted his back.

“It’s all right. It’ll go away.”

Back in their room, Shui waited for more to be said. Silence followed and time passed before he left to check on them. He found them asleep on the chair, Konoe curled up in Leaks’ protective arms and Leaks languidly slumped with his face to his shoulder. He knelt in front of them and just watched for moments longer, taking the image in his memory.

He took Konoe back to his crib and covered Leaks with a blanket. He brushed a strand of hair from his face.

He whispered, “Good night, everyone.”

 

**Epilogue (Many Years later)**

Leaks eyed the photos of Konoe’s deceased mother on the wall and thought of the memories he had of her. She was an understanding woman, and wanted Leaks to be in their lives. She, like Bojyo and today Bardo, enjoyed nudging him and Shui together. This final affirmation of feelings he kept buried to himself out of defeat had him thinking of her. Would she really approve him pursuing her husband? It has been years, as Konoe confronted him on.

Leaks breathed out a condescending laugh. Bojyo had him figured out long before even he noticed.

The house was quiet and dim now. Konoe had already gone to bed with Asato and Rai in tow. The other parents left for home.

Leaks touched the place where Shui kissed him. It was an innocent peck on the cheek, goaded out of them by Bardo and his blasted mistletoe mission. That final affirmation that the fates were laying on him.

Shui crashed on the coach and stretched. “Mmm, that was a fun party.”

“Minus Bardo making the usual fool of himself and Rai,” He commented. Shui’s ears lowered slightly.

“He means well. I think he’s rather funny.”

“Only you would enjoy his sense of humor,” Leaks drank more of his wine, sending the small talk to an end.

Shui fidgeted in the silence, looking around to find something to fill in. Leaks sent his wine glass down. He nuzzled his nose over Shui’s shoulder. The latter looked at him with curious eyes.

“Leaks…”

Leaks pressed their lips together. The kiss on the cheek almost paled in comparison to the energy that sparked in him, almost sending him into a sprint. Before he could decide to pull out, Shui returned the kiss, cupping his hands over Leaks’ face.

When they pulled away, Shui’s cheeks were tinged with pink. Shui gave a shy smile and cuddled closer to him.

“Merry Christmas, Leaks.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays, inattani! I hope this SS gift is to your liking.


End file.
